Romance Writers

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Two Writers Mirror `Anne Of Green Gables`

In the classic book ``Anne of Green Gables,`` the young orphan Anne Shirley longs for a ``bosom friend ... a kindred spirit`` with whom she can share her romantic dreams of becoming a writer.

She finds just such a person and blooms in the warmth of a friendship that endures into womanhood.

The fictional tale is brought to mind by the real-life friendship of writer Linda Wiatr and Marie Kuta of Carol Stream. The friends, who are now 36 years old, met when they were in the 2nd grade at Lincoln Elementary School in Schiller Park.

``We wrote plays together,`` said Wiatr. ``We still have bits and pieces of them and we take them out occasionally and we laugh hysterically.``

``Other kids would be outside playing and we`d be sitting in the basement doing our own thing, in our fantasy world,`` added Kuta.

Often, their works were based on the 1970s-era television series ``Dark Shadows,`` based on the exploits of a modern-day vampire.

As one might guess, ``Our writing was very, overly, intensely dramatic,`` Wiatr said with a laugh.

It must have gotten the creative juices flowing, however, because more than two decades later the two women are still writing.

Wiatr has written seven published romance novels. Kuta is working on her first.

Kuta put her writing career on hold while she worked several years for Eastern Airlines, but Wiatr persuaded her to take pen to paper again.

``I used to tell her what I was doing,`` said Wiatr. ``She helped me so much that I said, `You should be doing this, too.` ``

The childhood friends now live just a block from each other. They bounce ideas off of each other, critique each other`s work and lend emotional support. That support is crucial for writers who often work in isolation.

``It`s important to have a sounding board, to have a friend whom I trust implicitly to give me feedback. It doesn`t matter if you`ve written one book or a hundred, you still need to know how you`re going to impact the reader,`` said Wiatr.

The friends fill that all-important role for each other. It`s a good fit for them, they said. ``We`re just kindred spirits,`` Kuta said.